Mounting and operating mechanism for reciprocating beds of printing presses



July 31, 1923- 1,463,274

B. D. STEVENS ET AL MOUNTING AND OPERATING MECHANISM FOR RECIPROCATING BED S OF PRINTING PRESSES Fi led March 5. 1921 I l atented July 31 I923.

. '1 NW?STATE some n. s'rEvEns, or manner-ai nnwannfri m rrier eraraaxj'naisms, I

' AssrGNoRs' T0 MIIEHLE;PBINTING rnnss n-jMAnm AoronrnGconning,- F

cmoaeo, ILrINors, a ';oonro;aa'rroN or irrr vors.

" Applieati'onl filed-March 3,1921; sr iai ni, 449,529.

Stateof Illinois, andvillage of OakrP-ark,

county of Cook; and State; of Illinois, have invented, certain new. and useful Improve- ,mentsin Mountings and Operating Mecha- 10 nisms for Reciprocating Bedsof Printing Presses, oflwhich the following-isa specification. vi 1' The main object andzleadingpurpose of present invention is :the provisionlof novel and 1 effective .meansfor reciprocating the v I printing-formv bed of akprinting-press,and.

so supporting-and backing up the be'd that 1 the: strains to which itiis subjected by its coaction with the impression-cylinder will 20. be well, distributed and wil-Lnot be; imposed 1 I solely-or unduly on the walls of the grooves or guideways-in which the edgeportions of -lat-1on with/a companion;impression cylin der l3,'the. several parts being; shown soine ':-+.-'J "17 I I -:'to"consid'erab-le e straln -and pressure during-the printing opthe bed slide and bynwhich-they are guided in their movements;

25, t Oneaim ofthe invention is to providea I plurality of rollers baclrof and'engaging tracks onJthe. bed' awhereby to relieve vthe g-uideways for the latterin suhstantial' inanfiner; fromthe pressure-imposed on thebed in cidentf to andduring-the "printingi -operas tion.:

-- It is desirable' thatlsomeiof suchlhackinghigh-strains imposedonitx- 4 1 up :or strain-relieving rollers shall *b61'1182t1' the, middle of the bed,-that---is midway between the guideways', and to accomplish, this a compact drivin or reciprocating m'echanism for the bedis-desirabla'thus prevent- 1 ing. the inner rollers fromgnecessarily ,belng excessively. separated from one another.

' 44);v To this and otheradvantageous ends aunique-and, e-ificientbedusliding mechanism has beenadevised which .occupiesgbut com paratively small space crosswise the ma-c ych'ine hence permitting. the inner, -pressurea j 45 rollers being placed gnearer vto one another than would otherwise be possible. .9;

In .the accompanying :drawing, forming a part ofvth'is specification, andzzthroughout' the several vielws of which like reference 1 characters refer to the same gparts, a :desi-rable and I. preferred embodiment V6Iltl011cl12lS, been illustratedfl I In thisdrawing:

Figure 1 isa plan view of the improved Figure Qisfa partiahvertical section on an I enlarged scale-f showing :the relationto one another ofJthe' spiral-gears, the con-nectinge structure; 1" I rod, and other parts; I 1. Figure 3 illustrates one of the eccentric .mountings for onelof the: backingi-up rollsers; v

@Fig'u're i is end View ofithe picted in-Figure 3 d:

roller.

Figure -;5- shows a ball-bearing hi ching-up"' By freferenceflto the' drawing it- 'Will"be seen that :the machineincludes a frame 10" I havingopposed', registered,=ive'rtical guideways orgrooves 11, 1'1 accommodating the lip-" i right edge portions ofareciprocatoryprint- Ling-form .bed 12 @w'liich is incoOperative re- 1 I what diagrammatically. 1 a Suchawhed issubjected eration and unless some means are'provided to overcome such ob ect10nalole fe'ature, the

walls of i the 'i-guid'eway s undergo; excessive apressure. and Wear,- thejflbed itself poss'ibly 1 being slightly deformed under the relat-ively hnAccordingly they-back -.o'f- '-the;bed is? equipped with 1 or" has fastenedzto'zit a nplu- .r'ality 50f vertically-arranged 1 flat tr'acks' or bars-14;, '15; l6,*and 1 7, four= in the present instance, but the exact number isiofm'inor im ortanc'e. t

t is desirable, however, lthatith'ey ,sliallf'rbe ,well and-"fairly; equally-spaced throughout the .surfface or, area ofe'such -=hedeton'secnre'. an even distribution of the strains;

:Bearing on these tracks are .a .corresp i-ng nuniber of v loacking-upf rollersi18', 19,1120

ond

and--21 eachzvrevolublymounted OIL-"llSSjfiI-l- 1dividu'al shaft; 22 'support'edt in laqpaira of.

brackets or arms123, 24: forming partpfumy secured to the f-IltIIlGi-C r l rately adjustable toward and from their respective tracks, whereby each may do its proper share ofthe work imposed on them, each shaft 22 has a central portion 25 on which thei-olle'r i'si'evolubly mounted and I two eccentric parts 26 and 27 fitted in cylindrical apertures in the brackets or arms.

on endfoif'the shaft is'prov'i'd ed with a series of notches 28,1111 oneot which may accommodate a portion of the head of a retaining; screw or p n, not shown, and by aiig'ularly adjusting these eccentric sect-ions,

in the bearings the corresponding roller may be shifted toward and from the bed as occasion requires.

The means. for reciprocating the bed cemprises the following cooperating i-hsti' u'inentalities 1' Two, stationary, spaced, upright racks 29 and '30 with oppositely-inclined teeth are fastenedtothe frame 10 and siini'laJriracks 31 and/32 in registerzwith the fir t pair are sec'nredto the back-oi and slide With the vertically reciprocatiory'bed vBetween the frame racks and 'bed racks I and in-properimes'h "with one of each, is a pair of spiral-gears 38 and 34, with reverse- ,lfy inclined teeth 'cut on the opposite, enlarged, end portions of a 'sinnle piece of metal, the intermediate, cylindricalpart 35 of which between the gears forms a bearing.

or;sh-aft for 'theuppe'r end '04? a connectingrod or link 36 actuated ifroin i'beloiw by a crank-shaft, notshowh;

3 =T-l1ll'S8iS the gears are forced lOfiiiTflVel up and dc w-ngbytlie action "of the connectingrod, and, by reason at their meshing with travel twice that of the movement of the connectii-ig-rod.v m A .It'isto-be observed that the teeth of the pairs of racks and those of the gears are oppositely inclined and the gears are r iie idly united together, they, are effectively prevented from shifting 'a iiia' lly 'out oi posi- 4510B or "alignment with their ranks in. either :'Cl11"C-t1IO 11,-'2inCl,Sin-C8 the upper end of the connecting rod has no other connection than with the' shaft. of the agears as shown,

such gears and racks constitute the sole 'z'uid'i'ng'meahs'fforthat e ndo-f the connect- -inn"-rod.-j,N-o end thrust bearings. are emcployed other thanthesloping teeth of the gears and racks.

1 JStated "soniewh'at di'iiere-ntly, the herring bone racksrandvgea-rs are the only-means nec- -'essaily "to guide the upper end :of the "conmeeting-rod: one set of racks and their coinpan-ion I gear preventing shifting "of-the parts in one direction, while the other pair of racks and their gear with oppositely inraeks iincler all circ'um ta ces;

"racks, means "toeffect the reciprocation the bed "by causing the bodily travel clined teeth eliminate the possibility of the parts being displaced in the opposite direction.

Such an arrangement, as will be obvious, produces aparticularl'y compact construction crosswise the bed, and hence allows the inner backing-up rollers to be placeddesirably nearer one "another than would otherwise be. possible. i f

To "assure that the gears and racks shall be always in proper mesh, the outer side faces of the gears have fixedly and concentrically mounted thereon, as by suitable screws, rollers 3' 7 and 38 with cylindrical surfaces coinciding with the pitch-circles of the gears. I

V The periph ies *of :"s'u'c h rollers bear at their opposite sides on flat, vertical trackbars '39 and 40, two "o l? the latter being fixed to the frame, the other "two be'ing'carnied by th'e'be'd, the active ia'ces of such bars being in register with the pii-tch li nes or pitcha es ofth'e corresponding racks, thus inn s1 mg proper mesh ng of the gears and The hacking-up rollers 18, 1 9, :20, and 21 may be of any usual type, but to reduce fricti'on'and to dimini h as much as possible the inertia of the reciprocating elethen-ts and those which change "their direc- 1 tien of movement, it is "desirable. to use fhaclzing-up rollers of special construction. For these elements weH'prefe ra-b'ly employ "the ordinary anti afirletien ball-bearings 41 using the outer hall-race member 49, as the roller, such element readily turning on the supporting halls having but *coinparatively "little weight or mass.

Those skilled in this art will understand that while one ip refer red embodiment of thei'nvention has been il lnstrated and described in detail, the invention is suscept-ible of a variety ot'f embodiments, differinq more or :l'ess in :mech'ani'cal features 'b ut-alljincorporatin g ti -min underlying frame, an impression-tcylinder cooperating with sand bed, means to reciprocate said bed comprising "a pair of stationary racks -with 'op riositely=i=nc'lined teeth mounted on said frame, a ph 'irfof 'simil'ar racks fixed to "and slidable with said 'bed, a pair spiral-gears "secured together and each mesh with one. of each of "sa'idpai rs in of of of the. :gears along the stationar'y "racks, -pl' tCl-l- J30 plane tracks in register with said racks, pitch-circle rollers registering and rigid with said gears and adapted to travel on said tracks to assure proper meshing of the gears and racks, and a plurality of backing-up rollers co-acting' with the rearof said bed to relieve said guideways from at least a part of the strains imposed on the bed, substantially as described.

2. In a printing-press, the combination of a frame, a printing-form bed mounted for reciprocation in guideways in said frame, an impression-cylinder cooperating with said bed, means to reciprocate said bed comprising a pair of stationary. racks with oppositely-inclined teeth mounted on said frame. a pair of similar racks fixed to and slidable with said bed, a pair of spaced spiral-gears connected together by a shaft rockingly mounted on said gear-shaft bei tween the gears and adapted to effect the reciprocation of the bed by causing the bodily travel of the gears along the stationary racks, pitch-plane tracks in register with said racks, pitch-circle rollers registering and rigid with said gears and adapted to travel on said tracks to assure proper meshing of the gears and racks; and a plurality of backing-up rollers coacting' with the rearof said bed to relieve said guideways from at least a part of the strains imposed on the bed, substantially as described.

BURT D. STEVENS. EDWARD F. DUDLEY: 

